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Eagles replace special-teams coach Daisher with April

TED DAISHER wasn't expecting his meeting with Eagles coach Andy Reid to end with Daisher looking for a job. "I was quite surprised," Daisher said last night, hours after he learned that his tenure as the Birds' special-teams coordinator was over after one season.

Buffalo Bills special teams coach Bobby April, left, will take over as the Eagles special teams coach. (AP Photo/Mike Groll)
Buffalo Bills special teams coach Bobby April, left, will take over as the Eagles special teams coach. (AP Photo/Mike Groll)Read more

TED DAISHER wasn't expecting his meeting with Eagles coach Andy Reid to end with Daisher looking for a job.

"I was quite surprised," Daisher said last night, hours after he learned that his tenure as the Birds' special-teams coordinator was over after one season.

"There's always things you'd like to do better, but when you have two guys make the Pro Bowl - only one team had two guys actually get voted to the Pro Bowl," Daisher said, referring to punt returner DeSean Jackson and kicker David Akers.

In fact, the Eagles' special teams improved in most respects after Daisher took over for Rory Segrest, who became the defensive-line coach. But when your season gets blown up the way the Birds' did the past 2 weeks by the Cowboys, you look for things you can change, and Bobby April, a more prominent name in the special-teams coaching biz, quit the Bills earlier this month, effectively declaring himself a free agent after not being considered for Buffalo's head-coach opening.

Yesterday the Eagles announced they had hired April and terminated the contracts of Daisher, head strength and conditioning coach Mike Wolf - a 15-year fixture who predated Reid - and Wolf assistant Jay Merlino. Strength assistant Barry Rubin is being retained. Since Rubin was the Packers' head strength and conditioning coach from 1999 to 2005, it seems possible he will take over the department. A Jan. 8 Daily News story detailed how several players felt they'd improved their conditioning working with a Cherry Hill trainer, Steve Saunders, which didn't seem to be a ringing endorsement of what the team was doing.

Daisher agreed that April is "a proven, good coach who's done it a long time," but Daisher said he would put his last three NFL seasons up against April's or anyone else's - 2 years with Cleveland and this season with the Birds.

"I respect Andy and I respect the Eagles," said Daisher, who was chasing down leads for new jobs, fielding calls from colleagues such as Ravens coach John Harbaugh, his former special-teams boss with the Birds during the Super Bowl year.

Daisher said he didn't get a clear rationale for the move.

"It really wasn't a long conversation," he said. "It kind of put me back on my heels."

The rationale almost certainly was that April's special teams ranked in the top five overall in the arcane special-teams ratings compiled by Dallas Morning News football columnist Rick Gosselin every year from 2003 to '08. Gosselin said last night he hasn't compiled his final 2009 ratings yet.

"I have the highest regard for Ted as a special-teams coach and as a person," Reid said in a statement released by the team. "He's an excellent football coach, and the numbers and production on the field this past year proved that. We just decided to go in another direction."

April told reporters in a conference call that the Eagles' special-teams production "has been good, very good," but obviously, he feels he can make it better. April said he has known Reid since they were at San Francisco State together in the early '80s.

"Bobby April has proven himself as one of the top special- teams coaches in this league," Reid said. "I have spoken with many coaches and players who have worked with and played under Bobby directly and they have had nothing but the highest regard for him in terms of as a coach and as a person."

"My main attributes - and hopefully I have more than just these two - I have the ability to be optimistic, and I have a lot of energy," April said.

April said good special teamers have to have "a tremendous selflessness," since their work is so anonymous.

April said that like other elite returners he has coached - Deion Sanders, Rod Woodson and Roscoe Parrish - Jackson has "that kind of ability at any moment, at any time, to bring instant momentum to a football team."

"We'll have to make sure that he has the opportunity to be exceptional. We have to make sure he keeps improving. He'll have to stay disciplined, he'll have to stay hungry, he'll have to keep learning," April said. "I always tell the guys that the punt return is the first play of the offensive series. I'm 1,000 percent in stating that is an offensive play."

April said he plans to go through all the Eagles' special-teams film and write out play-by-play critiques of each player.

April, 56, was twice named special-teams coach of the year by his peers, in 2004 and 2008. He has 18 years experience in the NFL with Atlanta, Pittsburgh, New Orleans and Buffalo.

The Birds ranked first in the NFL in punt returns this season (thanks to Jackson), 13.5 yards per return. Opponents averaged just 5.9 yards per return against them, the league's third-stingiest figure. Their kickoff-return average of 20.5 yards ranked 30th, but the Eagles lost top kickoff returner Ellis Hobbs midway through the season; he averaged 24.1 yards per return. Eagles opponents returned Akers' kickoffs an average of 23.5 yards, 21st in the NFL. Punter Sav Rocca's gross of 42.4 yards ranked 16th in the league, his net of 38.3 13th (though it set a franchise record).

In 2008, under Segrest, the Eagles' punt returners averaged 8.6 yards, their opponents 7.2. Kickoff returners averaged 23.5, opponents 22.6. Special-teams penalties have been a problem under Segrest and Daisher.

AP All-Pro honors

Eagles fullback Leonard Weaver was a first-team All-Pro selection by the Associated Press. Second-teamers were kicker David Akers, defensive end Trent Cole, returner DeSean Jackson and corner Asante Samuel.

Birdseed

Tim McDermott, the Eagles' new marketing VP and brother of defensive coordinator Sean McDermott, might bring more of a Philly flavor to an organization that has been accused of lacking that. He played football at North Penn (before playing at Cornell) and his parents still live in Lansdale. "Unless you're from Philadelphia, it's hard to understand the breadth and depth of how much people care," he said. "Sports matters here more than anywhere I've been. It's part of the culture, part of life" . . . Don't be surprised if Tom Heckert, who hired the Eagles' scouts, takes a few (or more) with him to Cleveland . . . With team president Joe Banner heading off on vacation, apparently there won't be a GM announcement soon.

For more Eagles coverage and opinion, read the Daily News' Eagles blog, Eagletarian, at www.eagletarian.com.